BOB NICHOLSON: Ideas for columns that won't be written

The Times may be happy that this is my last column as a Community Columnist. Instructions for columnists state that features are preferred and that the hard-nosed stuff should be left to the syndicated columnists.

I have not done a very good job of that. I even had one column, on progress in desegregating the Greek system at the University of Alabama, rejected outright. I started the year intending on writing about a variety of lighter subjects, such as cigar box guitars, motor-scooter commuting in Huntsville, and Hollywood promises (my son's experiences in the movie industry). I wrote some of these columns, but when I read The Times' syndicated columnists, I thought that none of them presented my point of view and I aimed my columns at other subjects.

I still feel that way and have encouraged The Times editorial page editor to start a local version of the On the Left/Right columns. With the machinations of Goat Hill, the power of the Alabama Education Association, electronic bingo and our dysfunctional state constitution, the subject matter would be near limitless.

Thank you to everyone who has written to me about a column. I've received many kind comments and a few e-mails taking strong offense to my point of view. In answer to my critics, yes I can be a jerk, but I'm flattered the labels "politically correct" and "apostate" considering the views being peddled by the critics that gave me those labels.

The rest of this last column consists of my topic outlines for four planned columns. Alas, I have run out of months. You can use your imagination to guess where they would have gone.

1) The women of Gees Bend can take scraps of material and make quilts that rise to the level of art. The politicians of Goat Hill Alabama can perform no such miracle with the scraps (known as amendments) that they have blended into our already flawed 1901 Constitution. After the last election my previous belief that only a fresh start can fix Alabama's constitution was reinforced. Not only were most of the amendments we voted on completely irrelevant to Huntsville residents, I believe that the wording we saw on the ballot for these amendments was intentionally obtuse. The arguments I have heard against constitutional reform to date have all been based on fanciful fears that do not equate to the real damage caused by this out-of-date document.

2) The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office determined that unemployment compensation results in more economic stimulus than any other spending, and that tax cuts for high income Americans are among the least effective economic stimulants. When Republican senators held up extension of unemployment benefits they claimed that it was because these payments added to the deficit. Yet they defended tax cut extensions for the highest income Americans, also unpaid for, on the grounds that they would stimulate the economy. Why would anyone reject the most effective stimulus in favor of the least effective?

3) I was wrong about there not being government-led death panels. The new health care bill contains no such animal, but the Republican controlled government in Arizona has rescinded previous approvals for some Medicaid organ transplants. It will save the state $4.5 million over the next year; a savings truly measured in lives lost and shattered families.

4) Alabama has demanded little of its leaders throughout our history and they have delivered. They have diverted our attention from important issues by playing to our fears and prejudices.

Leaders cannot lead by looking backward. Listen to Alabama's leaders; are they looking forward, or performing sleight of hand to divert your attention from their lack of achievement?

Thanks to The Times for giving me a platform from which to vent this year. Huntsville is a truly extraordinary place that has never settled for mediocrity, even when that has been the norm and expectation of much of the rest of the state.

I'm lucky to have been born here and happy to have returned after being gone for so many years.

Bob Nicholson has been a Community Columnist for The Times. He works for a poultry company in Huntsville. You can e-mail him at bobncolumn@gmail.com.